mtlve

Just logged in to check my rating sheets (1st time since 2-5weeks ago). The old sheets are not there anymore and they had a message saying it is closed to prepare for this year. Ahh!!!!!! Wish they would just let us read those!

Expected. They probably have scored the apps though-just waiting on funding decisions. We should probably start signing in and checking our review sheets (if prior app) now, since they may have glitches with that stuff like prior years.

It is not to going to get any better. One lab waited until I told them that I did not get a GRFP to tell me they were not going to take me (literally replied to my email saying NSF said no to tell me they say no). It does not get any better when you get to grad school. I hope we hear soon and that I do not have to wait to 2AM again.

I wonder if they will have HM this year or will those guys be moved up to recipients and HM will be small/non-existent. Probably depends on the number of applicants.....

The funding rate is usually 10%, so it will probably go up to 20% this year max. I think more people probably applied this year, since they have been advertising the increased funding rate for over a year. Hence we could still have a 10% funding rate this year! The website said that the B/C review panel dates were moved to early March (probably because of the snow). THis may mean that they will delay the notification dates again. It takes a certain amount of time for NSF to decide who gets funding and get everything approved (probably at least a few weeks). I am hoping for an early April release. I wonder what they will mess up this year in regards to the release.

Viva- How are the incompletes listed on your transcript? My initial rxn is to not comment about them in your essays. Based on my last two applications, I can say that they do not spend much time reading them. Last year, one of the reviewers did not even know what grad school I was at. If anything say something on the physical application or have people mention it in the letter of recs. You want your essay to be purely about the topic asked. I would not be suprised if they did not notice the incompletes. You may also want to see if your registrar can include something about them being finished in the spring with the transcript they send.

I am a prior applicant, and I am trying to figure out if I should reapply (in molecular/cell bio). Reviewer 1 gave me both excellents and reviewer 2 gave me very good and fair. I did not receive a 3rd review so I did not make the 1st cut. My reviewer comments over the last two years were not very helpful. I am trying to figure out if I am even competitive (was my 2nd try) or if I was on the border of making the 1st cut. I think the most recent "fair" was due to my poorly written proposal (there were problems if you are familar with this area). This can be fixed this year, so I am tempted to try again. However, I do not want to spend time doing this if I am not even competitive in the application pool. I tried to get info from NSF GRFP and they werent much help. Anyways, has anyone receive all excellents and very goods but did not make the 1st cut (have only 2 reviews)? Did anyone make the 1st cut with excellent/excellent and very good/good? Again I am trying to figure out what the 'cut off' was to make the 1st round and if I was close to this. (I know that word ratings arent an accurate way to figure out where I stand but it is all I have). Thanks

Congrats to everyone that got the award. I am glad the wait is over! Question for 2nd years who applied: If you took time off before grad school (to do something in your field), were you actually told you were ineligible? The Director, Bill Hahn, told me that this time counts as grad school and I would not be eligible my second year. This review process is not very formal, so I am wondering if there is a way to get by this. Has anyone actually done this? Thanks

Importance of GRE scores: To those of you that got the award or are in limbo, did any of you guys not submit GRE scores? My scores are expired, so I could not send them. I am wondering if lack of GRE scores can put you at a disadvantage in the app process even though they say that they are optional. Anyone have success without scores? I am trying to decide if I should give it another try next year without test scores.

Yeah. In the past it has usually been mostly top schools and maybe a couple of the average schools. This year they did not even give the mid-level schools a look in my panal. On top of that they did not even spread the awards out amongst the top5 school, since 1/2 of them went to UCSF. I seriously wonder if a big chuck of my panal was from UCSF or something. It just seems really strange that there is not a distribution at all (even amongst the top5 schools). It will be interesting to see where the HMs come from. To the prior poster, several people from my school applied with minority status (ethnic, geographic, and 1st generation student). Their apps were well written and addressed broader impacts. Everyone got a rejection and no one is in limbo now. Either the quality of the students at my top 10 school are declining or there was some major bias on panals in the life sciences this year. I am inclined to believe it is the latter since a lot of my classmates turned down acceptances at multiple other top10 schools.

no luck for me this year. I am excited to read the reviews. What I noticed: Half of the awards in my area went to UCSF. The others were at MIT, Harvard, etc. UCSF awards this year nearly doubled (17->30) Conclusion: you dont have a shot from non top schools! No one in my ~top 10 program got far in the process this year (usually have a few). NSF needs to start spreading the wealth! There our excellent people at excellent schools that are not named UCSF. Just need to vent. Good luck to those waiting. I hope they give you some good news soon.

Copy and save it in case it goes away. cant see anything!

yeah 15 more pages to go until my release prediction page #! 15min until they go home for the night. I wonder if they can sleep at night knowing that they are torching thousands of grad students. PLEASE NSF LET US GET BACK TO PLANNING AND CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTS INSTEAD OF SURFING THE NET AND CALLING THE CALL CENTER FOR NEWS FOR HOURS EACH DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do not know how they separate things out. My source also told me that people that took time off and were currently applying to grad school were in their own category. I had a comment on my rating sheet last year that reference after my college multiyear research experience as a "summer program". From comments, i was obviously not separated from the group that was applying strait out of college.

They said that last year and the email was two days late so I will believe it when we see it.

10% of applicants get the award from each group, so your odds are the same.

But cant we feed them arsenic? I just called. I spoke with a guy who said the result would be posted sometime in the first half of April. He said that they did not know whether there was a chance for them to be up this week. It did not sound too promising. Now I am going to go enjoy the sun in a place that lacks internet so i can get some work done

Delete this account!

That is just what I was going to post! If they did put that up for good, they may be expecting to delay things more. Why else would they put it up now if they were going to send things out within 24hrs? Bgk- ridiculous! You would have fixed the problem by deleting the false poster. yeah that thread got off topics now and then but most of it related to GRFP

T_ruth can you block the accounts of this person and any other posters that deliberately posts false award notifications?

mathguy-do you have anything?

I am guessing that if no one can confirm this after 10 min and 120+ people online that it was either not true or they just started the updates? Can anyone actually confirm the claim of award letters on fastlane? (no change for me)

I also do not remember it going down last year immediately before everything was loaded. I do not think that it works that way.

If anyone else feels the need to call, please do not ask leading questions. A lot of people have been asking things like I have heard x and is this true. We learn more from just calling and asking when they will be released. If you feel then need then ask if there is a chance for it today. Asking a leading question immediately will change the response you are given and probably decrease the accuracy of response.